November 2024 Newsletter: New gear sets and other details!

Announcemetns and other news:

1) New Gear Sets:

• Multi-Dense Non-Circular gear set
• Oblong Hoops gear set
• Extra Long Oblong Hoops gear set (limited quantity)
• Oblong Enormous Hoops gear set (limited quantity)
• Mammoth 2: modular compatible
• ​Travel gear set

​1.1) A note on limited quantity gear sets
2) Wild Gears Ultra Table
3) Whole Shebang Price Change
4) Holiday Shipping Timelines

Multi-Dense Non-Circular gear set

The Multi-Dense Non-Circular gear set is the first gear set to explore high density pen holes, akin to the double dense gears for circular gears.  These higher density pen holes are arranged in two ways:  1) vertically, like a standard double dense gear, and 2) laterally,  as if to fit more columns of pen holes in the fan.

Non-circular gears have pen holes arranged in a fan, not just a column.  This means that the whole fan must be shifted vertically or laterally so a whole gear must be dedicated to just one pen hole size and type of high density pen hole. 

When the fans are labelled with letters 'A, B, C, D' then they are the more standard form of high density where A 1->B 1->C 1->D  1 then leads to A 2, just like in a double dense circular gear.  

When the fans are labelled with numerals 'I, II, III,' then the multi-dense fans are being translated laterally.  For example in a fan the columns might be every 3 gear teeth.  But now there are 3 fans (I, II, III) where fan II is offset by 1 gear tooth to the right, and fan III is offset 2 gear teeth to the right.  This means that between the fans there is effectively a column of pen holes at every gear tooth.

These high density gears make absolutely stunning designs.

​Oblong Hoops gear set

The Oblong Hoops gear set is designed to be used in conjunction with the Hoops gear set.  This gear set is a collection of oblongs, each of which pairs with one of the hoops from the Hoops gear set.

The oblongs can be used as a simple ring, rolling gears around the inside and making designs that way.  They can also be used in conjunction with a hoop that fits snugly between the parallel lines of gear teeth.  That hoop can be repositioned between each iteration of a design making for a setup that has precise repositioning rotationally and laterally.  This is a style of composition that was first made possible with the Nested Oblong gear set.  It is technically more versatile and challenging and can make stunning, complex, compelling art.

The gear set is cut from one 40 cm x 40 cm piece of acrylic and is divided into two 40 cm x 20 cm pieces, each of which contains a set of nested oblongs.  Each oblong is marked with the tooth count, prime factors, counting tick marks, center line marker, and a number on the left side of the oblong that denotes what hoop matches it.

Buy it here.

​

Extra Long Oblong Hoops gear set

The Extra Long Oblong Hoops gear set is very similar to the Oblong Hoops gear set and is designed to be used in conjunction with the Hoops gear set.  This gear set is a collection of extra long oblongs, each of which pairs with one of the hoops from the Hoops gear set.

The extra long oblongs can be used as a simple ring, rolling gears around the inside and making designs that way.  They can also be used in conjunction with a hoop that fits snugly between the parallel lines of gear teeth.  That hoop can be repositioned between each iteration of a design making for a setup that has precise repositioning rotationally and laterally.  This is a style of composition that was first made possible with the Nested Oblong gear set.  It is technically more versatile and challenging and can make stunning, complex, compelling art.

The gear set is cut from one 60 cm x 40 cm piece of acrylic and is divided into two 60 cm x 20 cm pieces, each of which contains a set of extra long nested oblongs.  Each oblong is marked with the tooth count, prime factors, counting tick marks, center line marker, and a number on the left side of the oblong that denotes what hoop matches it.

Buy it here. 

Oblong Enormous Hoops gear set

The Oblong Enormous Hoops gear set is conceptually similar to the Oblong Hoops gear set and is designed to be used in conjunction with the Enormous Hoops gear set.  This gear set is a collection of oblongs, each of which pairs with one of the hoops from the Enormous Hoops gear set.

The gear set is cut from one 60 cm x 40 cm piece of acrylic and contains a set of nested oblongs.  Each oblong is marked with the tooth count, prime factors, counting tick marks, center line marker, and a number on the left side of the oblong that denotes what hoop matches it.

The gear set includes 2 nested gets of hoops (128/84/56, and 125/100/75/50).  Both sets are included because gear-in-gear designs with lots of shared prime factors are a popular design style to use inside an oblong setup.  In the 126 set each inner ring is 2/3 the size of the previous ring.  In the 125 set each ring decreases by 25.  In both cases they have lots of shared prime factors.

Buy it here. ​

Mammot​h 2: modular compatible gear set

The Mammoth 2 Gear Set is made of 1/4 hoops that are modular and sized to work with all the modular gear set components.  This gear set measures 80 cm x 80 cm (31.5 inches) and comes in four quadrants that snap snugly together.  With this gear set you can make staggeringly large art.  But even more than that you can combine these 1/4 circle arcs with other modular pars and shapes.

Buy it here.

Travel gear set

The Travel Gear set is a smaller gear set; 5.3 inches, 13.3 cm, a side.  It is a collection of gears from the Compact gear set and the Full Page gear set.  It is designed to give a taste of what Wild Gears can do in a small package.
It doesn't have engraved counting marks or any doughnuts, but does manage to fit 9 gears and hoop into this diminutive gear set. 

Comes with a small cardstock slip cover to help keep everything together when not being used.

A note on limited quantity gear sets

The Extra Long Oblong Hoops gear set and the Enormous Hoops gear sets are both made with sheets of acrylic which are 60 cm x 40 cm which is larger than the sheets that are used to make all the other gear sets.  I only have about 30 sheets of it in stock currently, and restock acrylic very infrequently so when they're all gone it'll be a while before there can be more.  If you are interested in these gear sets, get them while you can.

Wild Gears Ultra Table

For years I've been asked for more tables about combining gear sets and there are so many combinations that I haven't been able to make them all.  But now you can have any combinations of gear sets you want and have a petal table for those gears.

Using google sheets I made a fancy spreadsheet where you can select which gear sets you want a table for and it will automatically recalculate and display the combined table.

To get access to this cool new tool follow these instructions:

1) Open this link, it will take you to the Wild Gears Ultra-Table

2) If you are not signed into your google account, sign in now.  The button is at the top right of the page.  If you do not have or want a google account you can download an excel file copy from the Wild Gears downloads page.
​
3) Select the file menu, and from that choose "Make a copy" (see picture)

4) A window will appear: Rename your file as desired and press the 'Make a copy button' (see picture)​

Congratulation!  You now have your very own copy of the Wild Gears Ultra-Table​

Note:  If new gear sets are added in the future, you will need to make a new copy of the Ultra-Table"

Whole Shebang Price Change

The Whole Shebang listing, a collection of all Wild Gears gear sets has been updated to include the newly announced gear sets.  It has, for a long time, been offered at a 40% discount off the individual price of the collected gear sets.  That will change in just over 1 week from posting.  On Tuesday November 12 the discount on the Whole Shebang will change to be a 30% discount.  So if you've been on the fence about getting it, there are just a few days to do so before the price goes up.

Other gear sets prices will stay unchanged.

Holiday Shipping Timelines

With the busy shipping season fast approaching it is important to get your orders in early.  I recommend placing any orders that need to arrive by Christmas by the end of November.  International delivery times, USA, Europe, and elsewhere, get less certain as the shipping rush happens.  The frequency of packages delayed when clearing customs and crossing borders goes way up in late November and December.  Delays are often a week or less but longer, 3 week delays, are more common this time of year.  The sooner you get your order placed the more likely it is to be delivered quickly and not bogged down.

December 20th is the last day of the year that I will be shipping gear sets.  Shipping orders will resume in early 2025.

Also, there is a potential shipping disruptions with Canada Post as the union contract is being re-negotiated and that process has reached the point where strike action could be taken.  If there are any critical developments I will provide updates.